COM
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C OM
COMITIALIS Morbus, an anticnt Term for the Epilep- fy, or FalHng-Sicknefs; fo call'd, becaufe if any Perfon was fciz'd with i-r in the Roman Coming the Affembly was im- mediately diffolv'd : this being ellccm'd an evil Omen. Sec Epilepsy.
COMMA, in Grammar, a Virgula, Point, or Chamber form'd thus [ , ] 5 ferving to mark a /hort Stop, or Paufe 5 and to divide the Members of a Period. See Point : , &c.
'Tis very difficult to fix the precife Ufe of the Comma 5 different Authors define and ufe it differently : The ordina- ry Doctrine is, that the Comma ferves to diffinguifh Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, and the feveral Parts of a Period, that are not neceffarily join'd together. But this conveys no clear, precife Idea ; for what is it to dijlinguifb the Tarts of a 'Pe- riod net neceffarily joined together ?
V. Btijfier has carried the Doctrine of the Comma much further :" The Comma ferves to diftinguifh thofc Mem- bers of a Period, in each whereof is a Verb, and the No- minative Cafe of the Verb. Thus, That fo many "People are pleas'd with Trifles, is owing to a Weahiefs of Mind, that makes 'em love things eafy to be comprehended.
Befides this, the Comma is uf.d to diftinguifh, in the fame Member of a Period, feveral Nouns Subltantivcs, or Nouns Adjectives, or Verbs not united by a Conjunction. Thus, Virtue, Wit, Knowledge, are the chief Advantages of a Man : Or, a Man never becomes learned without fludying conphantly, methodically, with a Gufl, Application, &c.
If thofe Words be united in the fame Phrafe by a Con- junction, the. Comma is omitted : Thus, The Imagination and the Judgment don't always agree. The Comma may alfo be omitted between two Phrafcs that are very Aiort, especially if they depend on the fame Regimen, and are united by a Conjunction : Thus, Alexander conquered Alia and ejla- bliflfd the Monarchy of the Greeks.
The Author of the Treatife de Ratione Inter pungendi, printed with Vojfius's Element. Rhetor. Lond. 1724. lays down the Ufe of a Comma to be, to dijtinguijb the Jlmple Members of a "Period, or Speech ; i. e. fuch as only coniift of one Subject, and one definite Verb. Sec Sentence.
Thus Cicero, P r enio nunc ad voluptates agricolarum, quibus ego incredibiliter dele£tor, qiitf nee ttlla imped'mntur fenec- tute. £5? mibi ad fapientis vitam proocime a&edere videntur.
But this Rule does not go throughout ; the fame Author jnftancing many particular Cafes, not included herein, where yet the Comma is advifable. See Pointing.
Sometimes, e. gr. a Proportion includes another, which
, may be called 'Partitive, as being only a Part of the entire
Phrafe ; in which cafe, the two are to be divided from each
other by Commas. Thus, He always fays, as he tells us, the
fined Things in the World.
The Points, or Paufes in Difcourfe, 'as obferv'd, are in a kind of mufical Proportion : The Comma flops the Reader's Voice while he may privately tell one ; the Semicolon, two; the Colon, three ; and the Period or Full-flop, four.
The Antients only made two Kind; of Points, or Paufes in a Period ; the larger they called Members, the Greeks Cola, thus [ : ] the fmaller Incifa, the Greeks Commata, thus [ , ].
The Moderns, refining on the Antients, have fubdivided the firfl into a Colon and Semicolon ; fome fay, without any good Foundation in Nature ; tho others iland up for the ufe- fulnefs of the Divifion. See Colon.
As the Member, or Colon divides the Period into two Parts, each containing a Senfe, tho that imperfect ; thus, Antequam de Republica, patres co??fcripti, dicam ea qu<e di- cenda hoc tempore arbitror 5 where the Senfe docs not reft, nor is the Period or Sentence perfect, without the Addition of, exponam vobis breviter & profeSiionis & reverfionis me<e : The Comma fubdivides each Member into interme- diate Divifions, which, of themfelves, have no precife mean- ing at all 5 v.g. Nihil eft, mibi credo, virtute formofius, ni- hil pulchrius, nihil amabilius.
Frequent Commas, as on other occafions they promote per- fplcuity and dillinctnefs, and eafe the Reader, both in the Rehearfal and Comprehenfion of his Author ; fo, in Ora- tory, are they of cfpecial ufe and effect 5 particularly where an Advcrfary is to be clofcly and pointedly attack'd, up- braided, reprehendfid, wounded, &c, witnefs that of Cicero aiainfl Verrcs ; Non enim nos color ijle fervilis, no7z pilofo gen<e,non denies putridi deceperunt : oculi, fupercilia,frons, vultus deniquc totus, qui fermo quidam taxitus mentis eft, hie in fraudem, homines irapulit ; hie, eos, quibus eras ig- notus, decepit, fefettit, in fraudem induxit ; paitci tua ijla Imv.lenta vitia novimus 5 pauci tarditatcm ingenii, Jlitpo- rcm, debilit atom que lingua, &c. See Period.
Comma, in Mufick, is the fmalleft of all the fcnfible In- tervals of Tune. Sec Interval.
The Comma is about the tenth Part of a Tone : or, it is the Interval whereby a perfect Semitone furpaffes an imper- fect one ; or a perfect Tone, an imperfect one. See Tone.
M. Sauveur fays, a Comma is the Difference between
Tone-major and minor. It is feldom in ufe, excev
a Tone-majo
except in
the Theory of Mufickj to fhew the Juftnefs of the Con r d nances 5 for in the Practice, the Divihon is drovvn'd and 1 tt Each leficr Tone ordinarily contains ten Commas.
Lancelot only divides his Tone into nine Parts, or Cc- mas ; fo that according to him, a Coimna is the ninth Part"? a Tone.
The proportion of the greater Comma, in Numbers is a 80 to 81 ; that of the fmaller, as 2C25 to 2048.' See Tune.
The Word Comma is Greek form'd of x.b-/iw y f CC o y \ Cllt
COMMANDING Ground, in Fortification, is fuch' as overlooks any Poll, or llrong Place.
Of this they reckon three forts ; firfl, A Front Command. ing Ground ; which is an Height oppofitc to the Pace of the Poll, which plays upon its Front. See Front.
2d, A Reverfe Commanding Ground, which -is an Emi- nence that can play upon the Back of any Piace or Pcit.
$d, An Enfilade Commanding Ground, or Cur tin Cm. manding Ground ; which is an high Place, that can with its Shot fcour all the length of a ilrait Line. See Enfilade
COMMANDMENT, in a Legal Senfe, has various Ulcs : as, Com?na,ndment of the Kivg, when, on his own mere Mo- tion, and from his own Mouth he cafes a Man into Prifon.
Commandment of the Jufiices, is either abfotute, or ordi- nary : Abfolute, as when on their own Aurhoritv, and their own Difcietion, they commit a Man to Prilon for Punifhment
Ordinary, as when they commit him rather for life Cut tody than Punifhment. A Man committed on an ordinary Comrmndment is replevifable.
Commandment is alfo ufed for the Offence of him who directs or wills another to nanfgrefs the Law ; as by Murder, Theft, and the like.
COMMANDRY, a kind of Benefice, or certain Reve- nue belonging to a Military Order, and ccnferrM on anticnt Knights who had done Services to the Order. See Knight. ■ There areJlriSi, or regular Commandries, obtain'd in Oi 1 - der, and by Merit : there are others of grace or favour 1 conferr'd at the pleafure of the Grand Mailer.
There are alfo Commandries for the Religious in the Or- ders of S. Bernard and S. Anthony. The Kings of France J have converted feveral of the Hofpitals tor Lepers into Cm- ■ mandries of the Order of S. Lazarus. See Lipep.s.
Commandries may be compar'd to Conventual Priories; which, at firtt, were no more than Adminilirarions of the Revenue of certain Places at a diflance from the principal Monaflery : As there was a neceflity for having Monks dif- pos'd in thefe Houfes to take care of the Effects : fo there was the like ncceffity for fending Knights into thofc Place* where the Order had Lands.
The Commandries of Malta are of different Kinds 5 for as the Order confills of Knights, Chaplains, and Brothers Servitors, there are peculiar Commandrie s or Revenues at- tached to each. See Malta.
The Knight to whom one of thefe Benefices or Com- mandries is given, is call'd Commander ; which agrees pret- ty nearly with the Trgpofiius fet over the Monks'" in Daces at a diflance from the Monaflery, whole Adminiilration was call'd Obedicutia ; becaufe depending entirely on the Abbot who gave him his Commiffion. Thus it is with the fimple Commanders of Malta, who are rather Farmers of the Of der than Beneficiaries 5 paying a certain Tribute or Rent, called Refponfio, to the common Treafure of the Order.
COMMEMORATION, the Remembrance of any one; or fomething done in honour of his Memory.
Among the Romanifts, 'tis a Practice for dying Pcrfons te leave a Legacy to the Church for the rchearfing fo many Maffes in Commemoration of them. See Obit, &c.
The Eucharifl is a Commemoration of the Sufferings of Jefus Chrifl ; and is not, therefore, Jefus Chrift himfeif. See Eucharist.
Commemoration is alfo the Name of a Religious Feaft in the RomijJj Church, held on the fecond of November, in memory of all the Faithful deceafed ; inflituted in the Xlth Century, by Odillon Abbot of Clvgny. See Feast.
The occafionof its Inlliturion is varioutty related 5 the m oft plaufible account is this: A Religious Knight returning from a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 'and lofing his Road"", met a Hermit; who hearing that hg was a Franc, aCt'd him if he knew the Monaflery of Clugny, and the Abbot Odilhnh the Pilgrim profeffing his Knowledge of both, rhe Hermit told him, that God had difcover'd to him, that he was to have the Credit of delivering the Souls from the Fains they fuffer in the other Life ; charging him, at his return, to exhort Odillon, and thofe of his "Community, to continue their Prayers and Alms for the Dead. See Cluny,
COMMENDAM, in the Canon Law, the Charge, Truth and Adminiilration of the Revenues of a Benefice, given to a Layman to enjoy, by way of '^Depofitum, for rhe Space of fix Months ; in order to its being repair'd, $£c. or to ano- ther Bifhop, or Ecclefiaflic to perform the Pailoral Offices thereof; till fuch time as the Benefice is provided of a r^S 11 * lar Incumbent. See Benefice.
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